Gatorubet
Loathing All Things Georgia
You quoted the negative. I'll post the "positive" quotes and then respond.jwinslow;1858488; said:Again, let's discuss Bama. There's quite a wide gulf between Bama and Florida from what we've seen, whereas LSU seems to be closer to the former.
What is your reaction to these articles and breakdowns?
In some cases, the players who took these scholarships say they didn't feel pressured. Charles Hoke, a former Alabama offensive lineman who took a medical scholarship in 2008 because of a shoulder problem, said the choice was left entirely up to him and was based on the many conversations he had with the team's doctors and trainers over the course of his junior year.
Kirschman said the school offered in the summer of 2009 to pay for his graduate degree in business?an offer he accepted?and that he still gets some of the same perks as players. "I still get game tickets, which is nice," he says.
Mr. Kirschman said the decision to take the medical scholarship was ultimately his, and that he decided to do it to open up a scholarship for the good of the team. But he said he felt he was pressured. "It was pushed," he said.
In August 2009, Jeramie Griffin, a redshirt sophomore running back at Alabama, tore an anterior cruciate ligament in his knee during a practice?an injury that kept him out for that season. After undergoing surgery, he said, "I came back in the spring and I was OK."
Mr. Griffin said he doesn't contest the results of the physical and said it was "basically my decision" to forgo the rest of his playing career.
So. Is Nicky trying to rid Bama of anyone who is not a potential starter? Seems clear that he is. Was there a medical justification for the medical release or just b.s. made up by Saban? It seems that it is unclear and needs a case by case basis review. A doctor(s) signed off on it, so unless they don't value a license I would suspect it is not completely fabricated. It is also true that a student athlete can say whatever he wants about his medical situation not being as bad, but that the university is prohibited from commenting on anything having to do with a medical status. I would assume that some players have an ax to grind and a bias in being asked to separate from the team. It would be a crushing blow to the social and self esteem status of a 20-21 year old. So while you have to take what they say with a grain of salt, the fact that they did not speak negatively of the decision may be just the loyalty to the team and coach and former players. My problem is that my world at work consists of taking and defending and attacking statements made by people when their self interests are involved, so I have jaded attitude about taking any statement - let alone one not under oath - as true on its face. All bias is not intentionally false, some is just human nature.
So my take is that Nick is using the medical exemptions as a tool to weed out some kids who would stay under other coaches, and to also weed out some kids who should be weeded out. I think that the "looseness" in the rules leads to this, see the texting versus calling issue a few years back.
So one question that comes to mind is this: are other coaches keeping kids in the program who may legally me weeded out under the rules because of a sense of loyalty and repayment to a kid for hard work, and that is why they are not weeded out, or are the other coaches not having the injuries Bama has?
I think no way is Bama seeing more injuries. So I think that Bama is likely playing within the grey area of the rules, but that Nick is just much more of an asshole than most coaches - and one who has little regard for the work and effort put in my less than stellar players, and thus not a guy who has the players' interests at the top of his list of things to worry about. All of the kids, even the ones bitching, admitted that it was their decision. I'm sure than they were pressured in various ways, but then again, they all signed the docs saying that they agreed with the doctors, even the ones who now complain.
I have no problem with a limit on the number of medical shirts that can be used in any given year - or two - or three year period, which should easily take care of Lil Nicky's loop hole.
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